What happens to automated marketing emails sent to unsubscribed contacts?

[LLaysiepen]

Hi there,

General question: what happens to automated marketing e-mails (triggered through a nurture workflow) sent to contacts who have unsubscribed?

We have a contact who seems to have unsubscribed from our Marketing - General subscription type (which is required in order to receive our nurture emails), and had 2 automated emails blocked. However, after these 2, the workflow seemed to resume sending this contact our nurture emails. 

Looking at their contact sheet (left-side menu), I see they are also not enrolled in any subscription types.

GDPR is activated (and required for our business).

Do we need to add an additional step in our workflow that explicitly stops us from sending unsubscribed contacts these emails? Or is there a way to automate this in the settings somehwere?

Thanks a million!

[LLaysiepen]

Thanks so much @karstenkoehler 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @LLaysiepen,

If you checked this box, HubSpot would stop sending emails to contacts without subscriptions, so you definitely want to check if all contacts that you're currently sending emails to have an opt-in for your subscriptions.

From the outside it's hard to tell what exactly happened in the workflow. It doesn't make sense that the first emails were not sent but the subsequent emails were. I'd recommend reaching out to HubSpot support about this. They can have a look at the workflow history and records and should be able to get to the bottom of this.

Best regards!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @LLaysiepen,

Is the Legal basis required checkbox enabled?

Best regards!

[LLaysiepen]

Hi @karstenkoehler 

The legal basis checkbox is unchecked at this time. Shall I check it? 

And if so, what does this mean for contacts already in our CRM and/or enrolled in our workflow?

Thanks!

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @LLaysiepen 

HubSpot does not send emails to contacts who have unsubscribed. By default however, HubSpot will send emails to contacts who have not explicitly opted in. (HubSpot calls this "not opted", not to be confused with "opted out".)

In the screenshot below (Settings > Privacy & Consent) you can see the corresponding settings. Without the Legal basis required checkbox checked, HubSpot will send your emails to a contact as long as they haven't opted out.

This is what I assumed happened in your case. A contact had previously unsubscribed from the subscription type that your first emails were sent from (the ones that were skipped / not delivered). The emails that were sent later were sent from another subscription type – one that the contact had neither opted out of nor opted into.

Could you confirm what you're seeing under Settings > Privacy & Consent and also check the subscription types that are assigned to your workflow emails? You can then check the Communication subscriptions on the contact record (= your screenshot). Click View history and you should see the opt status of each subscription for this contact.

Best regards!

[LLaysiepen]

Hi @karstenkoehler ,

Thanks for your response.

I can confirm, the GDPR toggle is on under Settings > Privacy & Consent. 

I can also confirm, that both the blocked and the resumed emails belong to the same subscription type: Marketing - General 

When I look into the subscription history of this contact, it shows as empty... 

Anything else I may have missed?

Thanks again!